The present invention relates to absorbent articles, and more particularly to surgical sponges.
Surgical sponges are commonly used during surgical procedures to absorb body fluids of the patient both inside the incision and around the site of surgery. Sponges of this nature are usually made of an open-meshed absorbent fabric, such as woven cotton, and become significantly reduced in size when they become wet during use.
It is important, of course, that all of such sponges be removed from the patient's body after surgery is complete and before the incision has been closed. Accordingly, it is a standard procedure for the surgical team to carefully count the sponges to reduce the possibility that a sponge may be left in the patient.
In spite of such safety measures, sponges have been occasionally lost, particularly when an unexpected emergency disrupted the normal operative routine such as counting, which is subject to human error, with the relatively small size of the sponges contributing to the possibility that they might be lost. It has become increasingly common, therefore, to provide the sponges with a flexible non-irritating insert which is opaque to X-rays. In case of a disputed or non-tallying sponge count in the operating room, or in case of unexpected or unexplainable post-operative discomfort on the part of the patient, a portable X-ray unit is brought to the patient and an X-ray exposure should reveal the presence or absence of a lost sponge. A negative plate should be reassurance to the surgeon that he and his operative team have not left a sponge in the patient.
In the past, such inserts have usually been placed loosely in the sponges by means of a superficial bond, such that they may inadvertently fall out of the sponges into the surgical cavity during the operation, or the inserts may break and a small portion may fall out of the sponges. Due to their relatively small size, such misplaced inserts, and particularly fragments of the inserts, in all likelihood will not be missed by the surgical team prior to closing the incision, and an X-ray of the patient will probably not be taken, since the count of all the reclaimed sponges indicates that nothing has been left in the patient. The lost insert may only be located at a later date when it produces a deleterious effect on the patient, and may only be removed at the cost of another operation.
Some difficulty has also been encountered in determining whether an X-ray photograph indicates the presence of such an insert in the patient, either attached or detached from the sponge. This follows since prior inserts have generally been provided in the form of a continuous long filament. The X-ray photograph may appear to show the presence of an insert, whereas a different object, such as a suture, has caused such appearance. Accordingly, the patient may be reopened to remove a sponge which is not present, or a sponge may be left in the patient if the person reading the plate erroneously concludes that the thread-like structure on the photograph is a suture.